RWBY: Team JSTS
by Jezebel-Evangelina
Summary: This story follows team JSTS through their time at Beacon Academy and the trials they face along the way. The characters from RWBY are used in this story but they are owned by RT. All other characters besides the RWBY characters are OCs my friends and I created. There is mature content in this story ie: strong language and scenes of violence.
1. Chapter 1

RWBY: Team JSTS

By: Crystal

Intro: This story follows the adventures of Team JSTS (Justice) and their friends. The will be some explicit content in this story so if that is an issue for you then I suggest not reading it. These characters are OCs of mine that I created for a roleplay but I loved them so much that I decided to write a story about them. This is a RWBY AU that does use the characters from RWBY but be aware that I do not own the characters, they belong to Roosterteeth and Monty (R.I.P).

Dedications: I would like to dedicate this story to my amazing friends that helped me write the story, to Roosterteeth and Monty for creating such amazing characters and to those that let me use their own OCs as characters in my story. I love each and every one of my friends to pieces, I hope they have enjoyed helping me with this story and fallen in love with the characters as much as I have. Thank you to everyone that helped out with the writing of this story and I truly appreciate all the help. If it weren't for my friends this story wouldn't exist but I'm so glad it does because I enjoyed writing it.

Sources:

Team RWBY and other RWBY characters provided/ owned by Roosterteeth

A Goddess Before My Eyes; a poem by Ruben Baez Torres

Aria; an OC provided/ owned by one of my friends

Team ZMBI; an OC team provided/ owned by another friend

Pictures; found on google

Chapter One: Meet J

Jezebel woke to birds chirping in the trees above her head, she didn't mind being woken up by them as she was used to it from two years of sleeping outside. She slept outside because she didn't have anywhere to go since she'd killed her stepfather and her stepfather killed her mother. She had run away to Vale from Mistral due to her stepfather being abusive. He was abusive because she was a Faunus and she had two animal traits due to her absorbing her twin brother in the womb. He was a firm believer that the males of the race were superior so he hated her for surviving instead of her twin brother. Jezebel's animal traits were wolf ears and a tail; she got the tail from her brother when she absorbed him. Her argument was always the logical thing of she didn't purposely absorb her twin, it just happens sometimes, but her stepfather also countered with she could've been the one absorbed instead of her brother.

After arriving in Vale she had enrolled herself in combat school so that she could learn to protect herself. She spent all the free time she had at school but once it ended she was on her own until the next year started. When school wasn't in session she hunted in the Forever Fall Forest for food and slept in the trees where nothing could see her.

Jezebel (or Jezie as she preferred to be called) climbed down the tree she'd been sleeping in and brushed herself off, shaking out her tail as she did so. She walked a few feet from her tree to a thick patch of bushes to retrieve her belongings such as her weapon and personal items. The weapon of choice was a sniper rifle with different types of ammo.

The unique thing about her was her semblance, with it, she could take control of animals around her and use their abilities for a short period of time. She could also get them to fight for her, but she rarely did that, she didn't like forcing people or animals to do things against their will.

Today she was going to enroll in Beacon Academy, but she had to get there first. She was on the opposite side of town from the school so she had to book it if she wanted to make it on time. Jezie used her semblance to borrow a wolf's speed to make the trip across towns easier and faster.

With exactly two minutes to spare the young girl made it to the school and collapsed in the courtyard due to the exhaustion of using her semblance as well as running for over twenty minutes. The last thing she remembered seeing was a girl in white yelling at a girl dressed in black and red.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Meet S… times two**

The twins Starlight, Star for short, and Nova had been awake for hours because they were excited to finally be going to a normal school. They had gone to expensive private schools their entire lives, simply because their family could afford it. It had taken them both to nag their parents for months to let them go to Beacon Academy.

Star was sitting in her room brushing out her hair for the 100th time before standing and brushing off her clothes, even though there was nothing on them. Star was one of those girls that had to have everything perfect. And she was kind of a snob. To her, everyone was a servant; she always got her way, and if she didn't, there would be hell to pay. Meaning that whoever denied her had to deal with daddy dearest. Star had only fought to go to the 'commoner' school, as she put it because she couldn't bear to be separated from her sister, who was technically older than her by 3.5 minutes. The only time Star and Nova were separated was when they were asleep, getting changed, or using the restroom. Starlight had dressed in commoner's clothes instead of the normal dress she always wore because she wanted to fit in and get a feel for the environment at the school. Once she'd done that she would go back to dressing her normal way. Her objective for the first week was to befriend all the popular kids so that she could stay with her 'own kind,' as she put it.

Nova was sitting on the couch with a book, reading as always. This time it was a book called 'The Man with Two Souls,' and she was really enjoying it. Her reasoning for wanting to go to Beacon Academy was that she was tired of constantly being in high-end schools that didn't have very good libraries. She had heard that the library at Beacon was amazing and that there were also a ton of bookstores near the school. Nova, unlike her sister, didn't care about fitting in or sticking with popular people; she just wanted to go to class and read books. Sometimes it bothered her that her sister never left her alone, but she was learning that when she had a book in her hand, she didn't want to talk.

The Moonshine family had maids, butlers and tons of unused rooms in the mansion they called 'Moonshine Manor'. They were one of the richest families in Remnant. The family itself consisted of Starlight, Nova, and their father; their mother had died from cancer 2 years ago. Since her death, the family had become distant towards each other, except for Star and Nova.

Once it was time to go, Star left her room and met her sister on the front steps of the manor to wait for the driver to pull the car around. They had packed all their stuff into the car the night before so that it was ready. The drive to the airship drop-off was rather quiet; the driver didn't speak unless spoken to, Nova had her nose in a book, and Starlight was looking at the scenery while listening to music on her scroll. The trip, in total, lasted for about 20 minutes, and according to Star, it was uneventful with a side of boring.

When they arrived at Beacon Academy, Star and Nova went straight to the auditorium to wait for initiation to start. They didn't bother talking to anyone or stopping to look at anything. Nova was too busy reading and Starlight had to make sure Nova didn't walk into anything because she couldn't put the book down long enough to walk anywhere.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Meet T

Tiana Riley wasn't your typical every day girly girl, she did like her lattes and that kind of stuff, but piss her off and you'd be in a world of pain. It's not that she's violent or anything, it's just that she had a very short temper and when she lost it she had a tendency to kill. Get on her good side and you were fine, with Tiana it was all about first impressions, once that was made she had her thoughts about a person. She hadn't killed anyone in months which for her was a good thing.

She grabbed her latte off the counter of the coffee shop she went to all the time. Then walked to the school which was just down the street from the coffee shop. She didn't have many belongings, just a backpack full of clothes, a laptop bag with her laptop in it and her staff. Also she had her spells but those were mostly just memorized words so they didn't take up space. Tiana (Tia for short) didn't have that much stuff with her because she moved to Vale from Menagerie and she couldn't afford to take any more than she could carry. She could barely afford the latte she was drinking.

As she was walking down the street towards the academy guards ran past her chasing after a yellow blur. Curiosity got the best of her so she followed them. She ended up running into a guy wearing a white shirt that was unbuttoned and blue capris, she fell to the ground dropping everything she was carrying including the latte.

"Hey, you okay?" The boy asked, helping her get up and pick up her belongings.

"Yeah I'm okay. I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." Tia said brushing herself off and gathering her stuff, she glanced down at her spilt latte sighing, then looking back up at the boy she'd run into.

"I'm Sun by the way" the boy introduced himself, holding out his hand.

"Tiana, but everyone calls me Tia" she muttered shaking his hand in an attempt to be polite.

"Where are you heading?" Sun asked also attempting to be polite and start a conversation.

"Beacon Academy" Tia muttered starting to walk off in the direction of the school.

"Wait" Sun called running after her "let me walk you, I'm heading there anyway, I'm meeting a few friends there" he said.

"Ugh fine" she sighed realizing she wasn't getting rid of him anytime soon.

Sun and Tiana walked to Beacon Academy together. When they arrived they saw a girl laying on the ground and two girls yelling at each other. Sun ran over to the girl laying on the ground to see if she was okay, Tiana took this opportunity to book it towards the auditorium to get away from him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Initiation**

Tia felt bad about not checking on the girl laying in the courtyard, but she was glad to get away from the guy she'd run into. She didn't particularly like human interaction due to the whole issue with her temper. However, she knew she'd have to get over that eventually if she wanted a team and friends that weren't paid to hang out with her; that's how it was back home, her dad paid people to hang out with her, so she wasn't lonely. But now she was on her own and she didn't have money to pay people…... not that she wanted to pay people anyway.

Star and Nova were sitting against the far wall of the auditorium, out of the way of the people setting up for the assembly that was to happen in a few minutes. Star was asleep with her head resting on Nova's shoulder. Nova was reading her book; she'd almost finished the book and she hoped the library had the second one. If it didn't, she hoped that one of the bookstores sold it or that she could borrow it from someone.

Jezebel awoke to someone shaking her and yelling at her to wake up, "ACK! GET AWAY FROM ME! I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING WORTH STEALING," she screamed in terror as she tried to back away from the mysterious person in front of her.

"Calm down, it's alright. I'm not going to harm you or steal from you. I saw you laying on the ground and I came over to check if you were okay," Sun explained to the terrified girl that was slowly sliding away from him.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Jezebel demanded.

"My name is Sun and as I already said, I was checking to see if you were okay," he explained calmly to her, offering his hand to help her up off the ground.

Jezie cautiously took his hand, standing up and brushing herself off "Thank you," she said, "That's the first time anyone has willingly helped me," she muttered to herself.

Sun was about to respond to her, but he was cut off by an explosion that happened a few feet away from where the two girls were arguing. "Ruby, Weiss settle down before you destroy the courtyard…. again," he called to the two girls as he walked over to them.

Jezebel watched them for a few minutes before a third girl joined the group. The new girl was dressed in all black and wore a bow on her head. Being a Faunus herself, Jezebel could tell that the girl in black was a Faunus as well, she just couldn't tell what her trait was. Jezie felt weird standing there watching a group of people she barely knew, so she turned and walked to the auditorium, her tail tucked between her legs and her ears pressed against her head. She was so nervous because she was a Faunus, and besides Sun and the girl in black, she hadn't seen any other Faunus. She thought that there might be discrimination here if that was the case, and she wasn't about to stay here and be bullied like she was when she was little. Jezebel made a deal with herself right there that she wouldn't judge anything just because she'd only seen two Faunus besides herself. She calmed herself down and found a seat against the wall near the back of the room. Jezie sat there by herself until the assembly started and she had to stand up.

The room filled with people as a Glynda and Ozpin walked onto the stage at the front of the room. Like any big event, there was chatter happening all over the room, which quieted down when Ozpin started speaking. He gave his speech, then informed the crowd that they wouldn't be doing the normal initiation this year due to the increase in powerful Grimm, so there would be an exam of sorts for the students to take, and tame Grimm to fight. Glynda then stepped up to tell everyone that they would be sleeping in the grand hall tonight. The test was in two weeks and everyone had free time until lights out at 10 pm… it was only noon, so that meant 10 hours of free time, which was supposed to be used to get to know the people there.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: Free time**

Later that night, the auditorium had pretty much cleared out, leaving the new recruits and a few of the returning students that were staying with siblings. Jezie was sitting in a corner trying to avoid people and not attract attention to herself. She was watching the interactions people were having with each other, wishing she was courageous enough to get up to go socialize.

"Hello~!" A blonde girl said as she walked up to Jezebel.

The girl in white, the Faunus girl Jezebel had sensed from before, and the girl in red/ black with her.

"H-hi," Jezie said, unsure of what to do.

"I'm Yang, and this is my younger sister Ruby," the blonde girl said, pointing to herself and then the girl in black with red accents.

"Hiya~," the girl called Ruby said, opening a baggie full of cookies and eating one.

"I'm Weiss," the girl in white said as she curtseyed.

"Blake," the other Faunus girl said, her tone emotionless.

"I, umm, I'm Jezebel," Jezie said, introducing herself, surprised that anyone noticed she was there.

If there is one thing Jezebel could do well, it was blend in and become practically invisible.

"Can I help you all with something?" She asked curiously, trying to figure out why these four girls would come up to a nobody like her.

All four girls sat down around Jezie, "Nope, we just saw you sitting over here by yourself, so we all figured we'd come over and make a new friend," Yang explained.

"O-oh, well th-thank you, that's very kind of you," Jezie breathed out, realizing that she wasn't alone anymore.

"Wanna cookie?" Ruby offered, spreading crumbs everywhere as she talked with her mouth full.

"Umm thanks," said Jezie as she took a cookie and started nibbling on it.

"Ruby! Don't talk with your mouth full!" Yang scolded, glaring at Ruby.

Ruby just shrugged her shoulders and continued eating.

"So, Jezebel…." Weiss started talking, but stopped seeming unsure of what to say.

"Y-yes?" Jezebel responded, encouraging Weiss to continue with what she was saying.

"Tell us about yourself," Weiss all but demanded.

"Well for starters, call me Jezie please," Jezebel said politely before continuing to tell almost everything there was to know about herself; pretty much ranting as her nervousness took over and she became unsure of how much to tell. The five girls continued talking until it was time to head to sleep.

They made plans to hang out after Jezie's initiation and parted ways.

Meanwhile, Nova had finished her book and was about to wake up Starlight who was still sound asleep, when she saw the most beautiful girl she had ever seen. She was completely mesmerized by her. She wore black and her hair was long with waves in it. Nova slowly got up, careful to not disturb her sister, and walked over to the girl she'd seen. But before she made it over to her, she left with a group of girls she assumed were her teammates. She sighed and went back over to her sister and her book. She woke up her sister and told her it was time to head to the grand hall to sleep. While Star was gathering herself, Nova picked up her book and then helped her up before heading to the grand hall.

Tiana had been wandering the grounds of the school since the speech ended; she didn't want to risk any casualties, even though she desperately wanted friends. She had run into a few students while wandering, but they all looked at her and hurried past as if they were afraid of her or they didn't want to socialize with a faunus. Tia had thought of finding that annoying monkey boy to hang out with, but she decided against it for the simple reason that she thought he was annoying. There was that wolf faunus girl she could talk to…... if she could find her that is. The wolf girl had disappeared shortly after entering the auditorium… or at least Tia thought she had disappeared.

"Great, I'm going to be alone here too," she muttered to herself, not noticing someone was behind her.

"Well right at this moment you aren't exactly alone," a mysterious voice said from behind Tia.

Tia spun around to see a guy with blue hair and a red jacket. She screamed in terror and hastily backed away.

"Woah, whoa calm down, I'm not going to hurt you," he assured her, smiling slightly. "I'm Neptune and I just happened to notice that you were out here wandering around by yourself, which isn't safe, even though we are right by the school," he told her.

"Uh, umm, okay," Tia said sputtering, still trying to calm herself from being scared, "M-my name is T-Tiana, but I p-prefer Tia," she stuttered out, attempting to introduce herself.

"Well Tia," he whispered, chuckling, "let me accompany you back to the school, it's almost lights out," Neptune said, grabbing her arm gently and pulling her slowly back towards the school, without giving her a chance to answer him.

Tia slowly followed the strange new boy back to the school. About halfway back, she heard a soft growling sound. She stopped, and Neptune continued walking, lost in his own little world. Tia stayed silent, her tail twitching curiously as she tried to identify where the growling was coming from… suddenly it got louder and louder until Tia saw a pair of glowing eyes staring at her from a few feet away.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six: Kidnapped**

 _A week after the assembly_

Tia woke up with a groan. She held her pounding head in between her hands. After a few minutes, she jumped up remembering the glowing eyes, but as she looked around the rather dark room, she realized that she wasn't outside or even near the school anymore…... or at least, she didn't think she was. She was very disoriented and scared because she didn't know where she was, or if anyone would ever find her due to her not having any friends yet.

"Hello?" She called to the empty room, slowly standing up and dusting herself off, shaking her tail out which sent a small cloud of dust into the air.

After a few minutes of waiting for an answer that never came, Tia put her hands to her head to try and remember what happened to her… all she could remember was the glowing red eyes coming from the bushes…. what happened to her, she didn't know. She also didn't know how she was going to get out. She had been looking around the room she was in and she couldn't see any doors, windows, or any way of entry into the room. All that was in the room was a mattress, which she had been laying on when she woke up, a bucket for which she assumed was supposed to be used as a toilet, and a small table with a picture of a girl that looked familiar to her.

"Oh, good you're awake…." a feminine voice came through a speaker hidden in the corner of the room, "I was worried that I'd given you too much chloroform and killed you…." the voice when on, the tone was low and smooth.

"H-hello?" Tia said again as a camera that was attached to the speaker zoomed in on her.

"Don't bother speaking, it's a one-way microphone and I wouldn't want you to wear out that pretty voice of yours," the voice said as a section of the north wall moved, and a figure walked into the room.

"Hello dearie~" the figure crooned as they walked closer to Tia. The figure walked into the light and it was none other than the infamous, devilishly handsome, Roman Torchwick. Tia only knew who he was because he was all over the news; as far as she could remember he was a criminal…... An

extremely good-looking criminal. At least to Tia.

"Roman here is going to assist me in performing a few tests on you," the speaker said.

"Okay, and who the fuck are you?!" Tia muttered to herself as Roman advanced on her, backing her up until she fell onto the bed. He kneeled on the bed beside her and reached into his pocket to pull out a syringe. Tia went wide eyed at the sight of the needle and bolted off the bed, but Roman was too fast; he caught her and threw her back on the bed, straddling her.

"Struggle and things will only get worse," Roman whispered into her ear as he injected the needle into her arm and pressed the plunger, releasing a clear substance into Tia's bloodstream. The last thing Tiana saw before she fell unconscious was Roman pulling empty syringes out of his pocket and placing them on the table.

A few hours later Tia woke up in the room…. alone and in complete darkness. She panicked, trying to sit up, which gave her a massive headache, so she collapsed back on the bed. Her arms hurt like hell and she could barely move them. "What the hell did that freak show do to me?!" she angrily muttered to the empty room. She had so much going through her mind like; how long had she been out? What were all those syringes for? What were they planning to do to her? When would she finally be free?


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven: A Goddess Before My Eyes**

 _Two days before the exam_

Nova was in the library at the back looking for poems she could use to confess her love to her dark-haired lady in black…. She, unfortunately, didn't know her name yet, but that didn't concern her too much. Nova was certain that she'd learn her name eventually; she was determined to talk to her…. she just wasn't sure how. She'd lost track of time due to being lost in a book of poems…... well, one poem specifically, when she heard the library door open. Nova thought nothing of it because people come and go from the library all the time.

"Oh good, no one is here," said a feminine voice with a shaky yet relieved tone.

Nova looked up from her book to see who had spoken, and then she saw her; the girl dressed in black that had captured her heart. Without speaking she watched her scan the room to make sure she was alone. No one could see her from where she was sitting, but she could see everything, so if she remained quiet, she would never know she was there.

"I can finally finish my book in peace," the girl said as she pulled a book out of her school bag, sitting at a table.

She caught a glimpse of the book and noticed that it was the second volume in the "Ninjas of Love" book series. This sparked her interest because she was looking for that exact book. Nova figured this would be a good conversation topic, but she was still nervous about going up to her.

After 15 minutes of watching her read, Nova finally got the courage to go and talk to her. She shut her book and placed it on the table in front of her. She took her eyes off her for 2 minutes while she put her belongings in her bag. When she looked up, she let out a sigh of relief when she saw she was still there. Nova stood up and slowly started walking over to her table. She had her head down as she walked towards her table.

As she got to the table, she raised her head to find that she was no longer at the table, but her stuff was, so she figured that she must still be in the library.

She turned to go look for her and she was suddenly right in front of her.

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU WATCHING ME!? WHO ARE YOU WORKING FOR!?" The girl yelled at her, and before she had a chance to answer any of her questions, she started ranting. "You're working for the White Fang, aren't you? I bet you are and you're trying to get information about me and my family. Well, I'm not going to tell you anything, no matter how much you torture me!" She finished her rant, panting a little.

"Umm, I don't know anything about the White Fang, or even who your family is. I just wanted to say hi. I'm new here and I don't really know anyone or anything about the school," Nova said calmly.

"O-oh, I'm so sorry," she said nervously, scratching the back of her head as she glanced at the floor nervously.

"I'm Nova," she said with a smile as she held out her hand to her.

"B-Blake," she muttered, putting her hand in hers.

As she was about to shake her hand, she leaned down and kissed the back of her hand gently, which left her shocked and blushing a light pink.

"I also wanted to inquire about the book you were reading," she said letting go of her hand.

It took a couple minutes for her brain to start functioning again after the shock of her kissing her hand, "Oh, umm, it's volume two of "Ninjas of Love" she responded, "What about yours? I saw you put a book away before you came over here," she asked softly, sitting down at the table where she was before.

Nova sat down beside her and pulled out her book, "It's called 'Famous Love Poems: Volume 4," she said showing her the book.

"Wait, you like poems too?!" Blake said getting excited, not paying attention to the full title of the book.

"Yes, I do. I love all books; I hardly leave the house without a book in my hand," she told her with a grin on her face, she loved talking about books, so she got excited at every chance she got to talk about them.

Blake's face lit up with excitement when she said she liked books. It occurred to her that maybe there was someone special for her after all, "Read me a poem, please," she said softly, her head resting on her hand as she watched her, slowly becoming infatuated with her.

"Alright," Nova said, opening the book to a page she had bookmarked, skimming the page until she found the one she wanted.

She cleared her throat and started read.

"A Goddess before my eyes

by: Ruben Baez Torres

You are a masterpiece

A goddess before my eyes

You surpass the beauty of any female

Even the most beautiful rainbow in the sky.

As unique as a falling star

As rare as the Taj Mahal

There is nothing you don't have

You were born with it all.

A jewel beyond compare

Nothing like you we will ever see

You make me feel special

For the kindness you show me.

You are a goddess before my eyes

No other like you on earth

My world completely changed

The Second of your birth."

Blake wiped a tear from her cheek as she sniffled softly, "Wow, that was beautiful, Nova."

"I'm glad you liked it, it's one of my personal favourites," Nova whispered softly, smiling at her.

"...Read me another one?" Blake said after a few seconds, her composure regained.

"I'd love to" Nova responded, flipping a few pages in the book before picking another poem to read.

Blake sat silently, listening to her read her a poem, slowly falling in love with the sound of her voice. She could listen to her voice all day every day. In fact, she was slowly picturing spending the rest of her time at the school with her.

Meanwhile, Jezebel was wandering around the courtyard when she bumped into Sun and a girl she'd never met.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. I was off in my own little world as they say," Jezie apologized, nervously ranting a little.

"No worries, Jezebel," Sun responded with a friendly smile. "Have you met my girlfriend Nora?" he asked, motioning to the girl standing beside him.

The girl in a pink skirt called Nora smiled and waved, "Hey, welcome to Beacon," she said kindly.

"Thanks, I'm Jezebel but I mostly prefer to be called Jezie," Jezebel said, smiling at the two of them.

"Nice to meet you," Nora said to Jezie before she turned to Sun, muttering something in his ear which made his face go red and his tail stick almost straight up. Nora giggled softly, "we should get going, but I hope to see you around," she said to Jezie as she pulled a stunned Sun away by his hand.

"Okay, bye I guess," Jezebel whispered, sighing because she was alone again.

As much as she enjoyed being alone, at times, she wasn't particularly fond of it.

She'd been wandering for a while when she came across two boys having a conversation a few feet in front of her. She couldn't quite hear what they were saying even with her faunus hearing. So, with her curiosity taking over she tried to get a little closer without being detected.

"Man, I can't wait until I find a girl," the dark-haired boy said to the light brown-haired boy who was reading a book.

As you've said several times already…..." the brown-haired boy said a little annoyed. "You know, if you're so intent on finding a girl, why don't you stop pestering me and go socialize with other people?" he said, shutting the book he was reading.

"Sheesh, someone's a little cranky," the dark-haired boy said jokingly as he walked away from the other boy.

He was walking right towards Jezebel.

Jezie panicked and dove into a bush that was near her, so the boy wouldn't see her and think she was eavesdropping, which she was, but he didn't need to know that. After he passed her, she quietly walked out of the bush, casually brushing herself off. She glanced up, noticing the one boy was still there, and he'd resumed reading. From her point of view, he looked like he was about her age and good looking.

She decided to just walk casually by him, but as she was walking by him, her tail swished and brushed against his leg. She, however, didn't notice that this had happened.

"Excuse me," A voice called out from behind Jezie.

"Y-Yes?" Jezebel stuttered nervously, turning to look at him.

"I couldn't help but notice the peculiarity that you have two faunus traits," he said.

"Oh, umm thanks," she said nervously, turning to continue walking.

"Wait, please!" He was jogging to catch up to her. "I'm sorry that was weird, I was just caught off guard by your beauty. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable," he said softly, standing next to Jezie.

The young girl's tail swished back and forth as she thought about his words, "It's alright and thank you for the compliment," she said, smiling kindly at the boy. "My name is Jezebel by the way," she said, introducing herself, holding out her hand for him to shake.

"Ignous," he said softly, gently taking her hand, bowing slightly over it and pressing a light kiss to the back of it. "It's a pleasure to be able to acquaint myself with such a beauty," he whispered against her hand.

Jezebel shivered as he whispered against her hand, her tail wagging slightly faster than before, and her ears were perked right up. "I umm…. Th-thank you," she stuttered out, shocked slightly by his words.

Ignous released her hand and straightened back up, "Why don't we go somewhere and talk?" he asked her, a small smile on his face.

"S-sure," Jezie said, still in shock and not thinking straight.

Star was in the courtyard practicing her fighting skills and using her semblance since Nova had forbidden her from being attached to her side from now on. She was pissed, so her sword was blazing extremely bright, and it was hot enough to melt stone. She hated the fact that another girl had caught her sister's eye. In her mind, twins stuck together, no matter what.

She was so busy being upset and cursing her sister that she didn't hear someone walk up behind her, "Hey that's a pretty cool weapon you have there!" said a masculine voice from behind Star.

Star spun around and levelled her sword with the guy's neck, "Who the fuck are you, and why the hell are you sneaking up on me!?" she questioned, her sword dangerously close to his neck.

"Woah, calm down, I was only complimenting you on your weapon as I was passing by to go to my dorm room," he said with an eerily calm tone.

She just stared at him, perplexed by his calm tone; someone who has a flaming sword aimed at their neck, "Why are you so calm?" she asked cautiously.

"Well I figured you wouldn't try anything because attacking fellow students is against the rules unless it's for class and I can also do this…." his voice trailed off as her sword went out, even though she was still putting her aura into it.

"What the hell!?" she exclaimed as she stared at her smoking sword that was no longer on fire.

"Name's Zeriph, and my semblance is taking over other people's semblances, therefore making them useless," he explained, introducing himself in the process.

"Star…." she said as she processed what had happened and what he said, "Uh, my name is Starlight, but I prefer Star, and that's a pretty handy semblance," she spoke further, having regained her composure and put her sword away.

"Nice to meet you Star," he said softly, smiling at her as he started to walk past her, "I was on my way back to my empty dorm, you wouldn't want to come with me, would you?" he asked her, putting a little emphasis on the word empty.

Star being young, stupid, and easily persuaded said yes and followed him back to his dorm room where he advanced on her…


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight: More tests and experiments**

 _Two weeks after the kidnapping_

Tia had lost track of time; she didn't know how long she'd been held captive. Since the first time when she met Roman and the ominous voice on the speaker, they had left her alone. She had yet to figure out what they wanted her for, or how long they were going to keep her locked in the room. She'd been laying on the mattress for who knows how long when the door opened and Roman walked through, smoking a cigar as always.

"Hello again~," he said in his cheery tone, taking a puff of his cigar, "I have been ordered to take you to a proper bathroom, so you can clean yourself up, you're starting to smell, and after that Dr Aria has someone she'd like you to meet," as he spoke, swirls of smoke came out of his mouth.

Tia didn't say anything, she just stood and let Roman lead her to a bathroom. To be honest, she was thankful for the opportunity to have a shower, she didn't even care that she had to meet someone. Something that did peak her interest was the name that Roman had said…... Who was Dr Aria? Was she the voice from the speaker?

Fifteen minutes later, Tiana was showered, dressed, had her tail hidden and ready to go. She stood outside the bathroom door waiting for Roman to come back. While she waited she thought about who she was going to meet and if this person was a prisoner like her. Due to how nervous she was, she had started twirling her hair around her index finger.

Roman came strolling down the hallway about five minutes after Tiana had finished in the bathroom, twirling his cane and puffing away on his cigar, "Well you certainly clean up well~" he crooned, causing a cloud of smoke to fly into Tia's face.

Tia coughed, scrunching up her face as she fanned away the smoke with her hand, "Cut the crap Roman, who the hell am I meeting and who is doctor Aria?" She asked once she could breathe, crossing her arms over her chest, glaring defiantly at Roman.

The questions and glare earned her a smack over the back her head from Roman's cane, "Silence! You don't get to ask questions around here! Now shut up and move!" He yelled at her, pointing in the direction he wanted her to go with his cigar.

Tiana grumbled softly, rubbing her head as she started walking in the direction Roman pointed.

After walking down what felt endless corridors, they entered a room. In the room was a chair that looked like something you'd find in a dentist's office and a woman in a lab coat standing by it. The woman had a menacing-looking wolf sitting beside her.

"Hello Tiana, I am Dr Aria and I will be conducting the tests today," the woman said, her voice sickeningly sweet as she motioned for Tia to get into the 'dentist's chair' as she called it.

Tia reluctantly did as she was told, getting into the chair, shivering slightly as the cold from the plastic on the chair seeped into her skin, "Are you the voice from the speaker?" She asked cautiously, scared that she was gonna get smacked again.

Aria gave a small smile as she strapped Tiana to the chair, "that is correct," she responded before turning and walking away to gather equipment. The wolf stayed in the same spot it had been the entire time, watching Tia as if it thought she was going to escape.

A few minutes later, Dr Aria returned with a small metal tray on wheels, she shooed the wolf out of the way, then put the kart in its place, picking up a syringe full of a light blue fluid, "This may hurt a little," was all Aria said before plunging the needle into Tiana's arm.

Tiana let out a yelp in pain only to pass out a few minutes later. The last thing she saw was Dr Aria holding a scalpel above her face.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine: A plan**

It had been a month since the students had taken the initiation exam and the new teams were made. There was, however, one student that missed the test, which meant that there was one incomplete team.

One the night they were finally allowed into their dorm rooms, Jezie was the first one there. She stood at her bed unpacking what little belongings she had, putting up a couple random posters on the wall by the bed she had chosen as her own. After she finished unpacking her things, she pulled out a book to read while she waited for the other members of her team to arrive. She didn't have to wait very long; she had just sat down when the door opened again and a short girl with light pink hair walked in, followed by a girl who looked almost exactly like her with the same coloured hair.

Jezie, wanting to make a good impression on the members of the team she was going to lead, stood, "welcome to the room, my name is Jezebel, but I prefer Jezie," she introduced herself.

"How the _FUCK_ can one girl be so tall?!" the first girl blurted out as she looked up at the 6"1' form that was Jezebel.

"Star, don't be rude" the other girl that had entered scolded the girl she called Star, "Sorry about that, she doesn't seem to think before she speaks…. I'm Nova, that…" she motioned to the girl in front of her, "Is my twin sister, Starlight" she finished, brushing past her to get further into the room so she could choose a bed and unpack her things.

"But seriously though, you are really tall… how are you so tall?" Star said, taking the bed that was closest to her sister's bed and unpacking her things.

"I, u-umm, I guess it runs in my family, my mom was quite tall," Jezie replied to Star, sitting back down on her bed.

There was an awkward silence in the room as the three introverts sat reading their own books after the introductions had happened. Jezebel was reading a book called 'Hush, Hush,' and it was about a girl who fell in love with a fallen angel. Nova was reading the second volume of 'The man with two souls,' which she had borrowed from Blake a couple days ago. Star was reading a magazine and listening to music on her scroll through headphones that had her initials on them.

"I hope they find the missing girl," Jezie muttered, breaking the silence.

Nova looked up from her book, her blue eyes meeting Jezie's forest green ones, "I'm sure they will, they are trained professionals after all," she replied trying to reassure her.

"What if they don't? Or what if they do and it's too late?" Her eyes searched hers frantically, her book now forgotten as she worried about the girl she never got to meet. Her ears were flat against her head and her tail wagged anxiously.

"Jezie, please relax, they will find her, I promise," she got up, moving to sit beside her on the bed.

"What are you two babbling about over there?" Star piped up, setting her magazine down and taking off her headphones.

"I'm worried about the missing girl, and I'm also worried that they won't find her," Jezie explained, her voice high pitched but quiet.

"I think we all are but, we just have to be patient and let the teachers find her, unless we try to find her ourselves. The only problem there is we don't know where to start or anything like that" Star replied.

"Wait, I think I remember Ozpin saying something about a boy named Neptune being the last to see her," Nova muttered, half talking to herself as she tried to remember all the Ozpin had said during the assembly.

"Great! Let's find this Neptune kid and see what he knows," Jezie shot off her bed, her tail wagged excitedly at finally having something to do.

"Settle down there, it's getting late, it's almost lights out," Nova said, putting a hand in front of Jezebel to keep her from rushing out the door.

"Nova is right, it is late, and we are all tired, people don't think properly when they are tired. Why don't we get some sleep and we'll go find him in the morning" Starlight chimed in.

"...yeah you guys are right…" Jezie replied softly, sitting back down on her bed, her wolf ears drooping a little, her tail curling around her.

 _The next morning_

Starlight was the first one awake, she quietly got dressed and left the dorm to go for a walk, lost in thought as she wandered the halls eventually bumping into someone.

She tumbled to the ground with a soft thud, "oof, ouch" she exclaimed, rubbed her backside as she stood up.

The student she had walked into turned around and it was none other than Zeriph, "Star, you are the last person I thought I'd see this early"

"I have to admit, you were pretty low on my list of people I thought I'd see…..." she replied, dusting herself off as she started to walk away.

He ran after her, "Hey, wait, let's hang out, catch up and what not."

"I'd like to, but I have somewhere to be" she continued walking, diligently trying to ignore him, he didn't know that she'd caught him with another girl.

"Oh, come on~ it'll be fun~" he crooned, taking hold of her arm and shoving her into a broom closet, locking the door behind them,

"What the fuck, Zeriph?!" she snapped, catching herself before she went tumbling into the shelves of cleaning supplies.

Zeriph didn't say anything, he pushed her to the ground, straddling her as he started to take off her clothes…


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten: Regrets**

About two hours after Star had run into Zeriph, she lay naked, shaking, crying and bleeding on the floor of the broom closet. She was so scared, and her entire body hurt. She didn't…. No, she couldn't believe what had happened to her. All Star had tried to do was say no and ask to be let out of the broom closet, but he didn't listen to her. Instead, he thought no meant yes, so in his mind, she wanted it.

Starlight pulled herself together, slowly sitting up and getting dressed, wiping her tears away as exited the closet, hoping that no one was around. When she saw that the coast was clear, she let out a relieved sigh and headed back to her dorm.

By the time Star made it back to the dorm, Jezebel and Nova were awake. Jezie was getting ready for the day, sitting on her bed while putting her hair in a half ponytail. Nova had just come out of the bathroom from a shower. Star only knew she had a shower because her hair was wet and not styled.

"Hey, Star you look a little disheveled, what happened?" Jezie asked once she was done getting ready.

"Oh, she probably just met up with that guy, so he could have his way with her again" Nova muttered, not giving Star a chance to explain herself.

"Nova, that was rude" Jezie scolded.

"No, it's alright…... I'm gonna go get ready to head out…" Star muttered softly as she walked off towards the bathroom.

Once the bathroom door was closed, Jezebel turned on Nova, "What the hell was that about?" she snapped at her, "She is your sister and, yet you treat her like crap; you never know what could have happened to her," she continued.

"I don't particularly agree with this guy she's been seeing…." was all she said before she walked out of the room.

"Oh great, there goes the only person that could possibly know where this Neptune person is…..." Jezie muttered angrily at the empty room. She finished getting ready, putting on her combat uniform and putting her hair up in a half ponytail.

Starlight started the shower, stripping out of her clothes carefully since she was still sore from earlier, 'How could Nova be so rude? It's not like I wanted a boyfriend…. It just kind of happened and for the record I'm not even sure if we're a couple….' she thought to herself as she stepped into the shower.

After fifteen minutes, Star and Jezebel were ready to go, they just had to wait for Nova to return. Jezie had to pull rank on her to get her to stop being a jerk and get her to come back.

"Hey, Star, I would like to talk to you about what happened earlier today; as a friend and not the leader of the team," Jezie broke the silence, looking up at Star from the book in her lap.

"Thanks, but I think I'll pass on that. I don't really want to talk about it," Star responded softly, shifting a little as she sat on her bed. Her lower regions still hurt a lot.

"Alright, but the offer to talk still stands; anytime you need to talk about anything, you can come to me, alright?"

"Alright, thanks…..."

Nova walked into the room a few minutes later, "I found who we were looking for, but he didn't know anything useful, so we are back to square one," she said abruptly, plopping down on her bed.

"What the fuck is your problem? You've been incredibly rude all day," Jezie asked forcefully, getting tired of her attitude.

"Why do you care? It's not like you actually care about any of us, you just pretend you do because you're the team leader," her voice dripped with sass.

"Of course, I care," her eyes searched her face, "why wouldn't I care about the members of my team? You guys are my friends first, and teammates second."

She sighed, "Alright, if you must know, the girl I really liked found someone else, so she dumped me."

She gasped softly, "Oh Nova, I'm so sorry. Breakups are hard, but you shouldn't go through them alone, and you shouldn't take your pain out on your teammates, especially your sister."

"Yeah I know… I'm sorry about that, it just hurts a lot that she didn't even have the courage to tell me in person; she messaged me this morning saying that she's leaving me for another girl. She was the first person I'd ever really thought of in that way…."

"That bitch!" She blurted out, "Sorry but it's true, she obviously didn't care about you enough. If I ever see her I'm gonna punch her in the face for the pain she caused you."

She chuckled softly at that, "I was wrong about you, Wolf Girl, you really do care. Thank you for that by the way, but the face punching won't be necessary. I left her a very detailed and long reply full of colorful words."

She rolled her eyes at her nickname for her, "Well at least I can cheer you up, and don't ever think for a second that I don't care about my team."

"So, what now?" Star piped up, shifting a little so that she could look at both of them.

"Well, since we no longer have a plan, I'm going to head to the library to see if I can find out more information. I think you two should talk things out and rebuild the bond," Jezie responded to Star, getting up to head towards the door, not bothering to change out of the tank top and sweats she had been wearing.

"Alright, be safe and come back before it gets too late," Nova said before she left.

"I will, don't worry," Jezebel left the room, heading towards the library.

"Star, I want you to know that I'm extremely sorry for the way I've been treating you lately…... I was so caught up in the whole girlfriend thing that I left my baby sister to fend for herself, can you ever forgive me?" Nova moved to sit next to Star as she spoke.

"Of course, I forgive you, you're my sister and I could never stay mad at you," Star replied, "but did you really have to call me your baby sister? You are only older by three and a half minutes," she added with a whine.

"You know I like to tease you about it, but I promise I will never abandon you for someone else. From now on you come first no matter what."

"Same goes for you, I've always been there for you and I always will be."

Nova gave her sister a tight but gentle hug, a soft sigh of relief coming from her when she returned the hug.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven: New friends and a Rescue**

Jezebel made it to the library ten minutes after she'd left her dorm. She hoped that Star and Nova had worked things out. In the library she quickly decided she was done worrying about the missing girl for now; she just wanted to have a little time to herself.

She was so busy looking for a new book to read that she didn't notice anyone else in the library. She hummed softly as she wandered around.

Azure had been sitting at one of the tables staring at the blank page of her sketchbook, trying to figure out what to draw. She was about to give up and pack up her stuff when she heard a soft humming noise. She looked up from her book to see a girl standing at a bookshelf reaching for a book. She quickly got the inspiration she needed, drawing out the scene in front of her, only needing to glance up a couple times to get all she needed for the drawing. Once the drawing was done, Azure sat back to admire her work; the girl was absolutely stunning, and her humming sounded like an angel singing.

"Hey, is that me?" Asked a voice from behind Azure.

Azure jumped, squeaking softly as she closed her book, looking behind her to find the girl she'd just drawn, "I… U-um yeah it is…" she responded softly.

Jezie moved to stand beside her, "That was a pretty good drawing, you are a really good artist."

"U-umm th-thanks," she stuttered nervously, "I'm sorry for drawing you without your permission."

"Don't worry about it, I don't mind at all. I'm Jezie by the way, what's your name?" She held her hand out as she introduced herself.

"A-Azure…... Nice to meet you," she shook the other girl's hand, making sure to use her right hand.

"Do you mind if I sit down?" She asked, pulling her hand away a little.

"No, not at all," she motioned to the seat across from her.

Jezie sat down in the seat Azure motioned to, setting the book she'd grabbed on the table, "So, what made you want to draw me?" She asked curiously, her head tilting to the side a little.

'Oh my gosh that is adorable!' Azure thought to herself. She responded with, "Oh u-umm well I saw you standing there and I couldn't help myself, the way you reached for the book, it painted the perfect scene in my head," her wolf ears twitched nervously as she spoke, she hoped she didn't come off as creepy or anything.

"Huh, fair point… I didn't think I was anything special or worth drawing…" she muttered softly, her own wolf ears twitching as she thought about Azure's words.

"You aren't creeped out?"

"No, why would I be? You are an amazing artist and it boosts my confidence a little knowing that someone thinks I'm worth drawing."

"What do you mean worth drawing? You are really pretty, and anyone would be stupid not to see that."

A light blush colored her cheeks, "Y-You think I'm p-pretty?"

"Y-yeah I do…" she muttered softly, looking down at the table nervously.

"Thanks, that means a lot to me. Anyways I have to go now, my team is short a member, so we are trying to figure out what to about it"

Azure's ears perked up, "Maybe I can help, along with my team"

Jezie thought about this for a couple minutes, "Sure, we could use the extra help, but the thing is, we don't even know where to start looking for her"

She hummed in thought, "that is quite a predicament isn't it? Have you tried visiting the place she was last seen?"

"Now that I think about it, that would be the logical thing to do, but I doubt that there would be anything left there."

"It's worth a shot isn't it? It might give you some clue as to who took her."

"That is very true…. I'll try that, and I'll let you know if I find anything."

"Alright, see you later then."

The two girls exchanged contact information then Jezie left the library to head back to her dorm to get her team.

Azure gathered up her stuff and headed to her dorm as well.

A half hour later, Jezebel and her team were standing in the area where the girl had last been seen. Like Jezie had thought there hadn't been much there. But there had been some claw marks on the ground that looked like they came from an Ursa and some drag marks.

Jezie pulled out her scroll to message Azure, "Hey it's Jezie, we are in the courtyard near the cafeteria which is where the girl was last seen."

A few minutes later Azure replied with, "Is there anything there?"

J: "Yeah, there are scratch marks from an Ursa and it looks like someone was dragged."

A: "Dragged? That's weird, unless she was knocked out and the person wasn't strong or tall enough to carry her…."

J: "That's what I was thinking…. But the marks disappear a few feet away from the path."

A: "Odd…... Stay there, I wanna have a look, I'll bring my team as well."

J: "Alright, see you soon."

Jezie put her scroll away and told her team that Azure, and her team would be there in a bit to have a look themselves. After a few minutes, Azure arrived with three people behind her. There was a boy with orange hair and a lion tail, a girl with the same color hair that was dancing around a little and a lavender haired boy.

"Hey Jezie," Azure walked up to the group.

"Hey Azure," Jezebel waved, "I think some introductions are in order before we get down to business."

"Yeah, I agree. As you guys, know I'm Azure," she introduced herself to Jezie's team.

" _H-hi, I'm Lavi, I'm the leader of the t-team, I'm also mute so sign language is how I communicate,"_ the lavender haired boy now known as Lavi signed shyly, Azure translated what Lavi had said.

"I'm Ares," the orange haired lion faunus now known as Ares introduced himself.

"I'm Peach and don't mind the dancing, it's part of my semblance," the orange haired girl now known as Peach introduced herself, winking at one of the the pink haired girls that had been staring at her.

"Nice to meet you all, I'm Jezebel but I prefer Jezie, I'm the leader of this three-person team," Jezie introduced herself to Azure's team.

"I am Nova, and this is my twin Star," the other pink haired girl now known as Nova introduced herself and her sister.

Star blushed when Peach caught her staring and instantly looked away.

"Alrighty, now that introductions are out of the way, let's get to why we are all here," Jezie said, not liking the awkward silence that had fallen over the group.

They all wandered the area a little, looking for anything that might help them find the missing girl. Jezie had shown Azure the marks she had been talking about, so they were discussing why they ended so abruptly.

Tiana finally woke up from whatever that crazy chick Aria had given her. She had no idea how long she'd been out or what had been done to her while she was out. Her body felt fine, no pain or anything, which at the moment was a good thing; it meant that they didn't want to harm her…. or so she thought….

Tia sat up slowly, looking around the room, noticing that she was still in the room where she had met doctor Aria, except no one seemed to be here, "yay, I'm alone in the creepy room with no idea what's happened to me…" she thought and said to herself, shock rushing over her when the words didn't actually leave her mouth. Tears welled up her eyes as she came to the realization that all the tests they'd done on her had left her mute. She pulled herself together and clapped her hands together softly to see if she still had her hearing, her stomach dropped when she heard nothing.

She decided then and there that she was going to find a way to get herself out of here before they did anything else to her, the only thing was that now that she'd lost her hearing, she wouldn't be able to tell how much noise she was making. 'How exactly am I going to get out of here when I don't know my way around and I can't tell how much noise I'm making?' She thought to herself, 'well, I guess I'll just have to wait for someone to save me and hope that it's soon.'

"Hey guys, I think I found something!" Peach called out to the others that were all scattered around the area.

Everyone ran over to see what Peach had found. It was an odd rectangular line in the ground a few feet from where the claw marks ended.

"What is it?" Jezie asked the question that was on everyone's minds.

"I think it's a hatch of some sort; maybe the people who kidnapped the girl used this to get away," Azure thought out loud.

"I think I found how to open it…." Ares chimed in as he pushed in part of a rock nearby.

The hatch proceeded to drop down slowly, making a soft mechanical noise as it moved. There were soft gasps all around when the group noticed that the girl had been kept in the expanse of tunnels the hatch lead to.

"All this time and she's been right under our noses…." Jezie muttered softly, looking to the ground in shame.

Azure placed her hand on Jezie's shoulder gently, "there is no way you could have known this was here," she tried to reassure her friend.

"Yeah… I guess you're right…." Jezie muttered back.

"Alright, enough moping or whatever it is you're doing, there is a girl that needs our help and standing here ain't doing shit," Ares said, brushing past the group and walking further into the expanse of tunnels.

"Ares, wait, you don't even know where you're going," Peach called out to Ares as she jogged after him.

"Peach is right… we can't just wander off on our own," Nova spoke up for the first time since she introduced herself, "it's best if we exchange contact info and split off into groups," she added.

" _I think that's a good idea, except there is an uneven number of people so how would we split up?"_ Lavi signed to the group, knowing that only his team would know what he said.

"Well there are only three entrances to the tunnels…." Jezie thought out loud, partly answering Lavi, "We split into groups of two and Lavi can pick which team he'd like to be on," she continued.

Everyone let out a surprised gasp at the fact that Jezebel knew sign language.

"Since when did you know how to sign?" Star asked.

"I taught myself how to use sign language. I thought it might be a useful skill to have," Jezie blushed a little, scratching the back of her head sheepishly, "sorry, I thought I told you guys that I knew how to use it…."

"Yippee she knows sign language; now can we get to saving the girl…" Ares said impatiently.

"What is your rush? Is there something else you'd rather be doing?" Jezie asked.

"I am not in a rush. She's been missing for a month, who knows what she's gone through or if she's even still alive," Ares replied, his lion tail swishing impatiently.

"You have a point…... "she muttered softly, "let's get going, I'll pair up with Azure."

Azure moved to stand beside Jezie, "I don't have a problem with that," she agreed.

"I'll take Star," Peach piped up, twirling as she walked over to a now blushing Star.

"I guess that leaves me with either Lavi or…. Nova..." Ares muttered softly as he checked out Nova subtly, "I'll go with Nova."

" _I'll go with Azure and Jezie,"_ Lavi signed, walking over to the two girls he'd mentioned.

The three groups all chose an entrance and went through it after exchanging contact information.

 _An hour and a half later_

In the tunnel Azure, Jezie and Lavi had chosen, there was a door that lead to the room where they were initially keeping the girl. They could tell that she'd been in the room because they found the jacket she'd been wearing when she went missing and someone had carved a message into the wall, which read;

'To whoever finds this,

My name is Tiana Gryffin, I went missing from Beacon academy. If you're reading this, you've most likely come looking for me or you were kidnapped too. Please, help me!'

"Wow…. So, they were keeping her right beneath the school the whole time…." Jezie stated the obvious after she'd finished reading the note out loud.

The other two remained silent as they processed the information they had just learned. All three left the room, continuing down the corridor until it let out into a bigger room with a door at the other end.

In the tunnel Star and Peach chose, they found a door that lead to a room where a different girl was being kept, and by the looks of things, she was never found.

"Oh my gosh," Star let out a gasp, covering her nose and mouth to guard against the horrible smell.

"I hope that isn't the girl we are looking for…." Peach said solemnly, also covering her nose.

"I don't think it is, she's been here a lot longer than the girl we are looking for has been," Star replied, backing out of the room and shutting the door once Peach was out too.

"I hope you're right," she responded, walking down the corridor, "come on, let's go"

Star nodded and followed Peach, the corridor let out to the same place as the corridor Azure, Jezie and Lavi had took. The five of them recounted what they'd found and decided to wait for Ares and Nova before continuing. They showed up a few minutes later, having found nothing in the tunnel they went through. Once everyone was all caught up, they walked across the room towards the door. They were all surprised when they didn't run into anyone on the other side of the door.

The door lead to another big room with several other rooms branching off it, the group decided to split off and check all the rooms at once. Almost all the rooms were empty except some equipment that looked like it had been used recently. As everyone finished checking the rooms, there was one left and Lavi decided to check it.

In the remaining room, it looked like no one was in the room at first. Lavi had made sure to remember the girl's scent so he lifted his head to sniff the air, his fox ears twitching a little as he wandered the room a bit. After a few minutes, his ears drooped a bit when he didn't find anything, he was about to leave the room when he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye.

Tiana had decided to hide when the door opened in case it was Roman coming to take her somewhere for more tests. She'd grabbed a pitcher to throw at whoever came through the door. She hesitated when she saw that the person had ears sticking out of the hat on his head. Tia quickly regained her composure and as he was leaving the room she got into position to throw the pitcher at the person's head.

Lavi just barely dodged the pitcher that was thrown at his head, he turned to face the direction the pitcher was thrown from and that's when his eyes collided with the most beautiful blue eyes he'd ever seen. He raised his hands up to let her know that he meant no harm towards her, he kneeled, so they were eye level with each other. He slowly slid closer to her, using one hand to pull out his scroll so that he could speak with her.

" _It's alright, I'm not going to harm you, I'm here to rescue you, I have others with me, but they won't hurt you,"_ he typed out then passed the scroll to her.

Tia read the scroll, glancing up at him before typing out a response, " _how do I know you are telling the truth?"_

He read her question, thinking for a moment before responding, " _Well for starters, I wouldn't have given you a form of communication if I planned on hurting you, also if I wanted to hurt you don't you think I would have done so already?"_

She read his response, thinking it over before typing back, " _yeah I guess you're right,_ " she paused her typing for a moment, trying to decide if she should introduce herself or not, going with yes, she continued typing, " _my name is Tia, what's yours?"_

" _My name is Lavi, it's nice to meet you Tia, though I wish it were under better circumstances,"_ he replied to her, giving her a gentle smile.

" _Yeah me too, but can we get out of here please? I think I've been down here long enough,"_ she typed back, standing up slowly, her legs a little wobbly, she hadn't realized that her tail was still visible.

" _Yes, of course, I apologize, I just wanted to make sure that you weren't going to attack anyone,"_ he also stood, he held his hand out to her, noticing that she was a bit unsteady, he noticed her tail but chose not to comment on it until they were out of the underground area.

Tia cautiously took his hand, taking a few steps towards him before collapsing, her energy running out.

Lavi caught her before she hit the ground and carried her out of the room to the others.

Everyone was waiting for Lavi to return to the group, they were all talking amongst themselves, so no one noticed him come out of the room at first. Lavi tapped the toe of his boot on the ground to get everyone's attention then he started walking towards the exit, his team and team JSTS followed him, figuring he'd explain once he could put the girl down.

Once outside, Lavi kneeled, gently setting the girl down, making sure that her head was supported by his lap, he then looked to his team, " _her name is Tia, she collapsed shortly after telling me her name, I think it was due to exhaustion,"_ he signed to the group, Azure having translated what he said.

"Even with all the dirt and everything, she's still extremely pretty," Star muttered mostly to herself.

Peach kept what she wanted to say in response to Star's comment to herself, deciding that now was not the time to be flirting with the girl that had captured her eye since they'd first met.

"Let's get her to the infirmary," Jezie piped up, "hopefully they didn't do anything too serious to her while they had her."

"Yeah, hopefully, let's go so that she can begin the healing process as fast as possible," Azure chimed in, looking at the girl Lavi had cradled in his lap.

Lavi nodded in agreement with Azure and Jezie, he gently picked Tia up, standing slowly as he did so, he lead the way to the infirmary, everyone following behind him.

In the infirmary, Lavi passed Tia off to the doctors so that they could start helping her recover. The doctor said that she'd be in the no visitors area for a while so they were free to go and get some rest if they wanted to. Ares left to go let off some steam in one of the nearby training rooms, Nova followed him, wanting to talk to him about something. Azure stayed with Jezie, trying to help her calm down from panicking that they hadn't made it in time. Lavi sat in one of the chairs close to the door they'd taken Tia through, even though he'd just met her, he felt like he was responsible for taking care of her. Star had left to head back to her dorm so that she could process everything that had happened over the past few hours, she didn't mind that Peach was stealthily trying to follow her.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve: Recovery and New Love**

 _A couple days after the rescue_

It had taken the doctors a couple hours to stabilize Tia and get her into a room where she could have visitors. In the room there was the hospital bed and all of the medical equipment keeping Tia alive while she was in a coma, a bed along the far side of the wall that someone could sleep in and a couple of chairs in the room for people to sit in.

Lavi had taken up residence in the chair closest to the bed, he didn't quite understand why he felt so protective of her, but he didn't mind staying at the hospital since it meant he didn't have to deal with his team fighting. He held one of her hands between both of his gently, so that she would know that she wasn't alone.

The rest of teams LAPS and JSTS were all in class, but since Jezie couldn't focus very well the teacher dismissed her, so she headed to the infirmary to visit Tiana, she was a bit shocked to see that Lavi was in the room, let alone holding one of the girl's hands between his own. Jezebel stopped outside the door, watching them for a little bit before deciding to leave them be and come back later.

Tiana couldn't figure out why she wasn't waking up, it was almost like she was trapped in her own body. She was a little confused by the feeling of someone holding her hand but the warmth was comforting to her. She willed herself to wake up, if only for a few minutes, but her body wouldn't respond to her brain. The fact that she couldn't hear anything made things a little worse since she wouldn't know if someone was talking to her.

A doctor walked into the room to do his first check on Tia since she arrived. He carried a clipboard in one hand and a notepad in the other, "hello, I'm Tiana's doctor, I will be watching over her while she's here," he said to Lavi as he passed the notepad and a pen from his pocket to Lavi.

Lavi looked up from Tiana to the doctor, letting go of her hand to take the notepad and pen from the doctor, he looked down to write out a response to the doctor, "my name is Lavi, I helped find her and I've taken it upon myself to keep her company. Do you know if she is going to be alright?" He showed the notepad to the doctor.

The doctor read what Lavi wrote, glancing down at his clipboard to read his notes before responding, "she will be fine yes, and she will make a full recovery….." he trailed off, rechecking his notes before continuing, "except it looks like she lost her hearing at some point during her kidnapping."

Lavi's fox ears drooped a little, he glanced at Tiana before writing out his reply, "is there anything you can do to bring it back? Also was her voice damaged at all? I ask out of curiosity because she didn't seem to speak when I found her."

"We couldn't find anything wrong with her vocal cords, she may have wanted to stay quiet so you guys didn't get caught or maybe it's something else…." the doctor replied vaguely.

"Something else? What does that mean?" Lavi wrote out, the fur on his ears standing up a little as he became frustrated with the doctor.

"I'm not sure if I should say anymore since you aren't a family member or a significant other," the doctor responded, turning to head towards the door.

Lavi shot of the chair, grabbing the doctor by the arm and spinning him around, "listen here you overpaid swine, you will tell me all you know about her condition or so help me I will make you pay!" he wrote out angrily, shoving the notepad in the doctor's face, if Lavi had the capability to growl, he would be.

"Alright, calm down, I'm not intentionally hiding anything, it's just that it's a speculation of mine, not a medical diagnosis….. That speculation being that she may have convinced herself that she can't speak since she can't hear herself," he replied, holding his hands up defensively.

Lavi backed off, a guilty look on his face, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to overreact, it's just that I didn't like how you were dodging my questions when all I was trying to do was find out information," he wrote out, turning the notebook around as he looked to the ground in embarrassment.

"It's alright, you care for your friend and it's understandable to get upset. I shouldn't have been dodging your questions," the doctor replied, "now if you'll excuse me, I have other patients to see," he walked out of the room.

Lavi walked back over to the chair he'd been sitting in, setting the notepad and pen down on the table, figuring he could use it to talk to Tiana when she woke up. He couldn't quite pinpoint why he felt the way he did about her, but he knew that he cared about her.

Ares was in the training room working on his punches against a punching bag when Nova walked in.

"Can I help you?" Ares asked, pausing his punching to look at whoever had walked into the room.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to bother you, I just wanted to ask you something but you're busy so I'll leave…" Nova turned to leave, pulling the door open slowly.

"You aren't bothering me, do you need something?" he asked, his tone more gentle.

She turned around, letting go of the door, "I was just wondering why you chose to go with me over your teammate, I mean, you don't even know me so it's just kinda confusing to me."

He shrugged his shoulders a little, "I dunno, maybe it's because I didn't want to pass up an opportunity to spend time with a beautiful girl."

Her cheeks went a light red, "I u-umm…. Y-you think I'm b-beautiful?" she stuttered.

"Yeah I do, do you have a problem with that?" he walked over to her, a slight smirk curving his lips.

"No, not at all, it's just a little shocking…" she replied, her voice a little more confident this time around.

"How is it shocking?" his lion tail swished curiously.

"I'm not used to people complimenting me, that's all, but there is something else I wanted to ask you about."

"And that is?" he raised a brow.

"I want to get better at hand to hand combat," she stated, adding, "right now all I've got is my bow, but if anything happens to that, I'd be a sitting duck, so will you help me?"

"Yeah, I can help you, it'll give me someone to practice on, but don't worry, I'll go easy on you," he replied.

Nova snorted, "thanks for the vote of confidence," she said in a sarcastic tone.

"I wasn't trying to be rude by saying that, I was just saying that I didn't want to go to hard on you, since it's your first time," Ares explained.

"Oh…. that would makes sense…." she responded softly.

Ares and Nova started training in hand to hand combat, Nova getting a few good punches in before Ares knocked her on her butt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peach and Star had decided to meet after class and head to Peach's dorm to get to know each other a little better.

The two sat on Peach's bed in an awkward silence, Star nervously brushing her hair behind her ear as she tried to think of why someone like Peach would be interested in a girl like her.

"So, what kind of things do you do for fun?" Peach asked, breaking the silence between them.

"Oh, I u-umm, don't really have a whole lot of hobbies, usually I just read magazines while listening to music, that is if I'm not teasing Jezie about her crush on Azure," Star replied, immediately facepalming, "crap I wasn't supposed to tell anyone that…"

"It's alright, Azure has a major crush on Jezie, Lavi and I are constantly teasing her about it," Peach smiled gently, her mind wandering to her own crush and wondering if she should say something.

Star glanced up at the taller girl, she'd felt some sort of pull towards her, but she didn't know what to do about it, "well that's something we have in common…." she muttered.

"Yeah, I guess it is, Beautiful," she replied to the shorter girl, deciding to come clean about her crush on the pink haired girl.

Star blushed, her eyes widening a little before she looked away, "I'm not beautiful…." she whispered, seeming to shrink into herself.

Star's response shocked Peach a little, "yes you are, you are one of the most beautiful girls I've ever met," she smiled a little, reaching out to rest her hand on Star's shoulder.

She shrugged Peach's hand off, "no I'm not… I can guarantee that there are girls far more prettier than I am, take yourself for example…." her voice as soft.

She couldn't believe what the shorter girl was saying, well the compliment she got, but why was Star so adamant on putting herself down? Peach decided to ask her, "why do you insist that you aren't beautiful?" she hooked her finger under Star's chin, turning her head so that she was looking at her.

"Because it's true… it has to be…." her voice was shaky, tears were welling up in her eyes a little.

"Why is that? What happened to you that you don't believe you're beautiful?"

"There was this guy…." was all Star could get out before the tears started to fall.

'So it was a bad break up, that would make sense,' Peach thought to herself, "just tell me that you two were safe…."

"We were at first…. I thought we had something special…. But I was wrong….. I was so stupid and naive…." Star replied in between sobs, "I caught him with another girl….. I broke things off but he didn't believe that we were over….." her sobs got louder.

Peach wrapped her arms around Star and pulled her close, "shh it's okay, he's not going to hurt you, I won't let him."

"But he already has….. A few weeks ago, I ran into him in the hallway during my morning walk….. he said he wanted to catch up, but I refused and tried to walk away… he locked me in a broom closet and…." she trailed off, unable to say the word rape.

Just then it clicked in Peach's head, Star had been raped…. that would make a lot of sense with how she'd been acting, Peach tightened her grip on the other girl, "where is that scumbag now?" she asked, unable to keep the slight growl from her voice.

"He transferred out of the school last week….. he's probably long gone by now…." Star replied softly.

"Dammit…. Well I'm not going to let anyone else hurt you, that is if you'll give me a chance," Peach pulled away a little to look into Star's eyes.

Star gave her a confused look, "what do you mean give you a chance? Like a relationship?"

"Yeah, exactly like a relationship, don't worry, there won't be any dates or anything like that until we get to know each other better," the taller girl replied.

"I don't know why you'd want to go out with someone like me…." the pink haired girl replied, burying her face in her hands.

"What do you mean someone like you? What happened to you doesn't define who you are, it only defines the bastard that did it to you. Like I said before, you are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen and I'm going to do everything I can to show you that," she responded, her orange eyes searching for any negative reaction.

"Okay, I'll go out with you, but you can't tell anyone about what happened to me, you are the only one that knows right now," Star said, looking up at Peach.

"I promise, my lips are sealed on the matter," she wrapped her arms around her now girlfriend and placed a gentle kiss to her forehead.

The two girls spent the rest of the afternoon talking about random stuff and getting to know each other, although, Peach could tell that Star was hiding something. However, she couldn't tell what it was, and she was determined to get an answer.


End file.
